On lying in bed and other essays

Chesterton was the master of the short essay and could spin, with wit and grace, an essay a day for many years of his life. Those not familiar with his work will discover here the satirist who made fierce fun of the foibles of his times, the lover of paradox who found in the mysteries of our universe a key to wisdom and happiness and the defender of human rights in a society taken over (like ours) by greed and lack of compassion. No one interested in the relationship between civic politics and literature can afford to ignore this magician of the argumentative piece who makes his readers laugh and reflect at the same time. Many of these essays are made available here for the first time since they were printed almost a century ago................EDITED by ALBERTO MANGUEL